One-Reign Wonders

9 Days: Lady Jane Grey

LADY JANE GREY is called the Nine Days Queen thanks to her short reign in 1553.

On the throne was a sickly boy king, Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour. Edward's lord chamberlain, John Dudley, arranged a marriage between his own son and one of Edward's cousins, the 15-year-old Jane Grey. Dudley's idea was to keep the throne "all in the family" should King Edward die. Things nearly worked out the way he planned: Edward did die on 6 July 1553, and Dudley's supporters declared Jane Grey to be the new queen.

However, Edward's half-sister Mary Tudor had other ideas. The daughter of Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Mary had a stronger claim to the throne and the muscle to back it up. After nine days Jane Grey was forced to step down and the new Queen Mary tossed her in prison. Jane spent her 16th birthday in the Tower of London, and the next year she and her young husband were beheaded.